NAVIGATING A CHANGING AMERICA

The Urban–Brookings Tax Policy Center 2009 Annual Report

The Urban Institute, 2100 M Street, NW, Washington, DC 20037 The Brookings Institution, 1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20036 www.taxpolicycenter.org

Letter from the Directors

It would be an understatement to say that 2009 was an eventful year for the Tax Policy Center. We immersed ourselves in the major tax and fiscal policy issues that arose in the wake of a change in administration, a historic financial collapse, a deep recession, and a massive federal deficit. In this challenging environment, TPC redoubled its effort to provide policymakers, journalists, academics, and citizens with the objective, timely, and accessible analyses needed to evaluate current and emerging tax and fiscal policy issues. As President Obama took office at the beginning of the year and faced the immediate challenge of jump-starting an economy deep in recession, our work became more urgent than ever. We analyzed and evaluated stimulus proposals, wrote background papers, and issued four wave-making report cards on the major provisions of the 2009 economic stimulus plans as the bills wended through the legislative process. We graded the short- and long-term effects of the stimulus on the economy and offered insights on the impacts of the proposals on fairness and complexity. Most important, we suggested ways to make the proposals more effective. Congressional staffers consulted with us as they incorporated our ideas into the final bill and have continued to seek data and input on legislative proposals. When the administration released its 2010 budget, we created an online guide to the tax proposals, providing detailed commentary on key provisions. Bill Gale and Alan Auerbach presented a "shadow budget" of more realistic projections over the 10-year and long-term horizon that was cited frequently by the news media. Later in the year, Bill and Alan evaluated the economic effects of stimulus options at the Federal Reserve’s annual conference in Jackson Hole. While saving the economy and the financial system occupied most of the policy space in Washington, many other issues were front and center. Our commentary, testimony, and analysis of ways to pay for health care reform helped inform the contentious and ongoing policy debate. We showed how to simplify and improve the complicated and sometimes contradictory rules low- income families face when trying to claim tax credits. And we worked hard to educate policymakers on the merits of using carbon taxes to address climate change. Although policymakers were busy with a host of nontax issues, we were pleased and honored to host separate events featuring Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI), each of whom presented his proposal for sweeping reform of the federal tax system and addressed audience questions as part of our Tax Reform 2.0 series. The integration of analysis and outreach efforts has always been a TPC hallmark. This year, our scholars testified before Congress on issues ranging from the nation’s fiscal challenges to the use of a carbon tax to address climate change and a dramatic new proposal to use a value-added tax to pay for universal health care coverage.

We hosted 16 public forums where the nation’s leading experts discussed everything from corporate taxes to taxation of families with children to long-term care. TaxVox, named one of the country’s top economic blogs by The Wall Street Journal, has become a go-to forum on critical tax and fiscal policy, receiving almost 2.5 million page views in 2009. We are proud to have expanded our role in 2009 as a critical resource for nonpartisan, objective, timely, and careful tax policy analysis. As in the past, the news media magnified the reach of our analysis and commentary. Other nonprofits and advocacy organizations spanning the political spectrum used and cited our analysis to strengthen their cases. As the country’s challenges grow, we expect TPC to have many more opportunities to illuminate and contribute to the policy debate. None of this could have happened without the continuing dedication of TPC staff. We experienced several important personnel changes during the year. Len Burman left his position as TPC director to become the first Daniel Patrick Moynihan Professor of Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Len maintains close ties with TPC. We are indebted to Len for his creative, energetic, and visionary leadership of TPC over many years. Rosanne Altshuler replaced Len as TPC director, joining us from Rutgers University. Rosanne’s background in both academia and public policy and her great enthusiasm for TPC’s mission have made the transition seamless and productive. Our roster of experienced and committed staff grew as we welcomed back co-founder Eugene Steuerle and brought in two additional scholars. Ted Gayer is co-director of the Economic Studies program and the Joseph A. Pechman Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, where he focuses on taxes, housing, and climate change issues. He is also coauthor, with Harvey Rosen, of a popular undergraduate public finance textbook. Joe Rosenberg, who joined TPC from UC- Berkeley, focuses on tax and fiscal policy options, using our microsimulation federal tax model. Our crew expanded even further with the visits of two distinguished professors who spent their sabbaticals with us. Daniel Halperin from Harvard Law School and Lawrence Lokken from the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law added a legal perspective to our analyses and contributed thought-provoking posts to TaxVox. At TPC, we see ourselves as the policy equivalent of nautical chartmakers. We use our microsimulation model and analytical skills to map tax policy’s dangerous shoals. We point lawmakers and opinion shapers to the most direct route to their economic goals. And our communications tools— our website, our TaxVox blog, and our public events—are lighthouses that warn of trouble ahead and help show the way to safe passage. And, even though as upstanding tax professionals we don't party like sailors, we do manage to have a lot of fun in the process. We are extremely grateful for your continued interest in our work.

Rosanne Altshuler William Gale

Table of Contents

2 Letter from the Directors 5 Productivity at a Glance, 2009 6 Obama Takes the Helm 7 Fiscal Shoals Ahead 8 Reform on the Horizon 12 Charting the Seas 14 Safety Net 16 Anchors TPC microsimulation model, TaxVox, TPC website, public forums,e-mail newsletters, media coverage,social networking 18 Partners 18 On the Horizon in 2010 19 Treasures 20 Staff 22 Advisors 23 Communication Products Congressional testimony, research publications, opinion editorials,TaxVox articles 30 Leveraging TPC Analysis

Productivity at a Glance, 2009

56 discussion papers, research reports, policy briefs, articles, and commentaries

Research and 4 testimonies before Congress Testimony 212 TaxVox blog entries

15 public policy symposia attracting 4,200 guests (in person or via webcast)

Public Outreach 2.42 million page views of TaxVox blog, almost 150 percent more than in 2008

508 distributional and revenue estimates

Model Development 2 complete model updates

Featured in almost 700 major media articles, 14 Media network television news programs, and 29 radio programs

1 million unique visits

Website 7 million web hits

5 Obama Takes the Helm President Obama ran his presidential campaign the proposals, provided links to more detailed on a platform of change. He presented a commentary on key provisions, and comprehensive tax plan to raise taxes on high- showcased our distributional analyses of the income taxpayers and provide tax cuts for low- overall budget and its major components. The and middle-income households. In the last report—part of a “2010 Budget” Tax Topics month of the campaign, candidate Obama page on our website—remains a useful guide offered specific tax-related proposals to to tax policy issues. address some of the problems created by the Along with print, broadcast, and web- rapidly worsening economy. One of TPC’s based media, Capitol Hill found our budget most downloaded publications in 2009, tool right on the money. Our staff was invited President-Elect Obama’s Tax and Stimulus to brief members’ legislative aides as well as Plans, examined the possible effects of the tax the tax staff of the Senate Finance Committee. and stimulus plans Obama offered during his We recently released a similar web resource campaign. for the 2011 budget. As soon as he assumed office, President Obama began laying the groundwork for an economic stimulus plan. TPC’s timely analysis helped set the course. We created the Tax Stimulus Report Cards, the first comprehensive analyses of the stimulus "The poor spend almost all additional money initiatives that were working their way through that they have coming in. They have lots and Congress. These web resources described how lots of needs, relative to their incomes. They the House and Senate plans would change need every dollar they can have, and a new current tax law and analyzed how their dollar in the door goes out pretty quickly." provisions would affect the budget and the Roberton Williams, “What's In the Stimulus for economy. We estimated how each proposal’s Workers,” by Nancy Cordes, CBS Evening News, benefits would be distributed among taxpayers February 12 in different economic situations, gave each provision a grade and, most important, suggested ways to improve the proposals. We developed three report cards: one for the House bill, one for the Senate bill, and one “Anyone looking for useful information on the for the final bill, the American Recovery and House and Senate economic stimulus bills to Reinvestment Act of 2009. In response, answer the all-important question: will they congressional staff contacted us to learn more actually work to jump-start the economy? about how to improve provisions that received should refer to the Tax Policy Center’s ‘Tax low grades. The report cards were a hit with Stimulus Report Cards.’ [TPC] is a joint policy experts, congressional aides, the media, project of the Brookings Institution and the and the general public. TPC staff took part in numerous radio, television, and print media Urban Institute and offers some of the best interviews to discuss our grades. Now on non-partisan analysis in Washington.” TPC’s website and our “tax stimulus” page, “Stimulus bills get barely passing grades,” by Frank our report cards and distributional analyses are James, The Chicago Tribune, February 2 still widely cited. Soon after Congress passed the stimulus package, the president released his 2010 budget. Almost overnight, we developed a web-based guide for the president’s Tax Proposals in the 2010 Budget that described

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Fiscal Shoals Ahead The 2010 budget deficit is projected to top Providing data and analytical resources to $1.3 trillion, or 9 percent of gross domestic help steer the United States away from these product. The national debt is approaching $9 fiscal shoals is a key TPC objective. trillion, the highest level ever and the highest In 2009, we approached this problem in percentage of GDP in more than a half- two interconnected ways. First, we carefully century. The consequences of this fiscal crisis analyzed the fiscal situation. TPC codirector are profound. Our growing debt threatens our Bill Gale released a sobering report with Alan world influence. If present trends continue, Auerbach on the impact of the deep recession within 10 years, we will be spending more and policy interventions on the federal fiscal than 3 percent of our total economic output on picture for the immediate future and for the interest payments on our national debt alone. longer run—The Economic and Fiscal Crisis: This resource drain constrains our nation’s 2009 and Beyond. In January, Rudy Penner fiscal choices and ability to provide much- and Bob Reischauer testified before the Senate needed government services for the poor, the Budget Committee on long-term fiscal issues. sick, and the elderly, and to create incentives for economic growth. In July, Bill Gale and others participated in a conference at the Brookings Institution on As the 77 million baby boomers age, The Budget, the Deficit, and the Future. And today’s severe budget problems will only in August, Bill Gale and Alan Auerbach worsen. So far, low interest rates have allowed presented a highly praised analysis of the the United States to carry this heavy debt. But economic effects of stimulus at the Federal investors may eventually lose confidence in Reserve’s annual conference in Jackson Hole, the U.S. economy, accelerating these financial Wyoming. pressures in ways we can only imagine. Finally, in October, Rudy Penner, Bob Reischauer, and Len Burman headed another event at the Urban Institute, The Financial “If you had told me two years ago that the and Economic Consequences of an Exploding Debt. These events and reports housing market was going to collapse by 50 were backed up by many opinion pieces in percent, that there was going to be a credit major newspapers by Burman and Gale, as crisis that put the economy in free fall, that the well as many TaxVox blog entries by TPC world economy would collapse, that the deficit staff. would be 10 percent of GDP, and that While outlining the toll of unchecked Congress would do nothing about the budget, deficits, we also highlighted the current tax I would have said you were crazy." system’s capacity to finance government’s William Gale, cover story by John Maggs, growing needs. In June, for instance, Rudy National Journal, November 7 Penner published a paper asking Do We Need a Value-Added Tax to Solve Our Long-Run Budget Problems? And, to pull together all these threads, Len Burman initiated a major project to study the economic consequences of catastrophic budget failure.

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Reform on the Horizon This year’s work centered mainly on Throughout the year, Rosanne Altshuler spotlighting reform efforts, participating in the and Bill Gale took part in PERAB discussions. national reform dialogue, and putting forth our Altshuler testified twice before the task force. own tax reform ideas. In May she presented ideas from the 2005 Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform In October, TPC director Rosanne initiated by then-President Bush. And in Altshuler initiated Tax Reform 2.0, a September she discussed the pros and cons of provocative new series of events. Senator Ron possible changes to the way we tax the Wyden (D-OR) kicked off the series by international income of corporations. Gale’s describing the tax side of the House and Tax Notes article, “Remove the Return,” laid Senate health care bills, sharing his take on out ways to simplify today’s cumbersome tax prospects for reform in 2010, and explaining system. He also testified in front of the task his own tax reform legislation. force in April. At our second forum, Easier Said than Done: The Costs and Benefits of Reducing Corporate Tax Rates, a panel of experts debated the ramifications of cutting the corporate tax rate. The United States imposes a higher statutory tax rate on corporations than any of our trading partners except Japan. “Urban Institute economist Rosanne President Obama has suggested cutting the Altshuler, who was chief economist for the corporate rate while raising the top rate for Bush tax reform commission, thinks individuals. Noting the opportunities this Obama may have tied the hands of the policy would create for high-income taxpayers task force too much by prohibiting any tax to shelter income and avoid taxes, panelists discussed rules we might impose to prevent increase for those making under $250,000. such tax avoidance. Says Altshuler, ‘That means 95% of taxpayers can't pay additional tax, even if it Our third event featured Representative would result in a more efficient system, Paul Ryan (R-WI), the top Republican on the House Budget Committee and a senior decrease inequalities, or make their lives member on the Ways & Means Committee. much simpler. At a time of monster Representative Ryan discussed his provocative deficits, that pretty much rules out any plan to link tax reform with health and sensible reforms.’ ’’ retirement policy, fiscal responsibility, and “Time for a Tax Reform,” by Bruce Bartlett, economic competitiveness. Forbes.com, April 3

The President signaled that tax reform may be on the horizon by charging the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board (PERAB), chaired by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, with producing a report reviewing potential tax reforms. TPC’s senior staff worked closely with the tax reform task force, a subcommittee of PERAB, offering both analysis and tax reform ideas.

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In December, senior TPC analyst Eric In May, then-director Len Burman Toder, who also serves as chairman of the IRS testified before the Senate Committee on Tax Gap Advisory Panel, described to the task Finance. Burman proposed paying for force the burdens taxpayers confront trying to universal health care coverage with a value- comply with our increasingly complex tax added tax (VAT) and examined incremental code. He also discussed the difficulty of options to finance expansions of health care measuring the tax gap—the difference coverage. between taxes owed and taxes paid on time— and pointed out ways to improve compliance and simplify the tax code. In his Tax Notes article, Focus on the ‘Tax Avoidance’ Gap, “I really do not understand the politics Toder suggested that the government loses of trying to sell health care reform, much more revenue by letting taxpayers which is supposed to be for the benefit legally avoid tax than through evasion. So, he of the vast majority of Americans, and argued, why not focus tax reform on closing saying it should only be paid for by these legal loopholes? people making over $1 million. If it's TPC also delved into the tax aspects of worth doing, and I think it is, more health reform in 2009. The health reform people should be willing to pay for it.” debate zeroed in on two interconnected—and Eric Toder, “Democrats May Limit Tax potentially contradictory—goals: covering as Increases for Health Care Plan,” The many of the 47 million uninsured as possible New York Times, July 20 and slowing the growth of medical costs, a trend that drives the nation’s long-term fiscal imbalance.

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Policymakers have also turned to the tax code to reform environmental policy and reduce global warming. The U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources invited Ted Gayer, senior TPC analyst and codirector of the economic studies program at Brookings, to provide expert testimony on how to reduce global emissions without hurting the economy. Gayer recommended a carbon tax as the most economically efficient way to address climate change. Though politically unpopular, such a levy could help generate revenues that can offset economically harmful taxes.

“A carbon tax generates public revenue. A cap-and-trade program generates public revenue only when the allowances are auctioned off by the government. In practice, this rarely happens, and the allowances are instead given away for free to regulated entities. Failing to capture and direct this public revenue to reducing economically harmful taxes and deficits would substantially increase the cost of any policy.” Ted Gayer, testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, December 2

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Charting the Seas TPC analysts continued to fulfill our mission taxpayers in a fog about the tax rates they of educating the public on the basics of the actually face. federal and state tax systems. One of our most We also continued our ongoing research cited factoids picked up by the media this year effort on the size and distribution of tax was in Who Pays No Income Tax. Bob preferences. Williams reported that nearly half of all tax units will pay no federal income tax in 2009 in In Distributional Effects of Tax a column he wrote for Tax Notes and in an Expenditures, Benjamin Harris, Katherine accompanying TaxVox post. Lim, and Eric Toder examine the distributional effects of the three largest groups of tax preferences: those that subsidize owner- occupied housing, health care, and retirement saving. These tax incentives, which reduce federal revenues by about 3 percent of GDP, raise after-tax income proportionally more for higher-income groups than lower-income groups but raise income proportionately less for those at the very top. The net distributional effects depend, however, on how these tax preferences are financed. If paid for with higher marginal tax rates, they benefit upper-middle-income taxpayers at the expense of both lower-income and the highest- income taxpayers. But, if paid for by lower per capita spending, all high-income groups gain and all low-income groups lose. Our public education campaign on tax expenditures also included a day-long conference in May, Getting More from Tax Incentives, cosponsored by the American Tax Policy Institute and NYU Rosanne Altshuler and Jacob Goldin School of Law. An impressive roster of some explored the difference between actual and statutory tax rates in The Opacity of Marginal of the nation’s foremost experts on tax policy, health policy, housing, and retirement Tax Rates. discussed whether and how tax incentives Suppose that a taxpayer earns an should be used to promote social policy goals additional dollar of income. How much tax and how best to reform current tax incentives would she owe on that dollar? A natural way for health care, owner-occupied housing, and to answer this question would be to look up retirement saving. the taxpayer's statutory tax rate, the tax rate corresponding to her tax bracket and filing status. Rosanne and Jacob found that this approach would yield the wrong answer for half of all taxpayers in 2009. The culprits are tax preferences that phase in and out with income, creating hidden tax rates and leaving

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In other TPC reports, Carol Rosenberg Our senior research methodologist, Jeff showed how the AMT bites taxpayers in some Rohaly, continued to describe the contours of states much harder than in others; Eric Toder the tax system in his popular yearly discussion and Jacob Goldin explained that less than 60 papers on the distribution of the federal tax percent of adjusted gross income is taxed at system and the AMT. All our publications are ordinary rates due to exemptions, deductions, listed in the Communications Products section and special rates on capital gains and of this report. dividends; and Bob Williams reported that the percentage of estates subject to the estate tax had withered to a projected 0.23 percent in 2009.

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Safety Net In 2009, TPC expanded its work on the tax Our report, The Effect of Alternative treatment of low- and middle-income Saving Approaches on College Aid, individuals and families with children. Led by concluded that low-income families can face Elaine Maag, we helped the Obama transition high tax rates when they save for college team redesign the earned income tax credit because they may receive reduced aid. How a (EITC) and advised staff members of the family chooses to save, and in whose name Internal Revenue Service, the House Ways and (the student’s vs. the parent’s) can profoundly Means Committee, and the Senate Finance affect a student’s Pell grant. Our efforts Committee on issues related to the EITC, the supporting the College Board’s Rethinking child tax credit, and the American Opportunity Student Aid project in 2008 helped influence tax credit. the AOTC. In part due to our timely advice and substantial modeling assistance, Congress included two TPC recommended changes to the EITC in the 2009 stimulus bill: raising the income level at which the EITC begins to “Congress and Treasury officials knew from the phase out for married couples relative to that outset that the credit could get money into the for single parents and increasing the credit for economy quickly, but at the risk that some families with three or more children. taxpayers would ultimately have to pay money TPC and Urban Institute events also back. ‘They had to make a judgment call, and this highlighted how tax policy affects low-income was the simplest thing to do. They definitely families. In April, TPC, the Urban Institute, wanted to err on the side of getting money out the and Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago door.’” staged a forum called Kids, Families, and Tax Elaine Maag, “Millions to Owe IRS Due for Stimulus Policy: Best Friends Forever? Among other Credit,” The Wall Street Journal, November 16 issues, expert panelists investigated the challenges of using the tax code to aid families and who wins and who loses under President Obama’s 2010 budget promises.

TPC staff were also on the dais at events focusing on low-income families sponsored by “‘What Obama originally proposed would have the New America Foundation, the American had a much more direct effect, although Tax Policy Institute, the American Enterprise delivering the payments to schools each fall Institute, and the National Tax Association. might have been a logistical nightmare,’ says Also in 2009, TPC extended its analysis of Kim Rueben, a tax expert at the Urban the relationship between tax subsidies and the Institute. Her group gave the education tax cost of attending college. Previous research credit stimulus proposal a C because of the probed the Hope (now the American small, delayed payments.” Opportunity Tax Credit, or AOTC) and “How the Stimulus Helps You Pay for College,” lifetime learning credits’ interaction with more U.S.News.com, February 12 traditional spending programs. Building on that, our new research examined how tax- preferred savings could affect other financial assistance.

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Anchors TPC Microsimulation Model TaxVox Much of our research and analysis is rooted in Our tax and fiscal policy blog TaxVox our state-of-the-art microsimulation model of continued to expand its reach to policy the federal tax system. Incorporating detailed experts, government officials, academics, and information from over 150,000 federal income ordinary citizens. Edited by former Business tax returns supplied by the Internal Revenue Week senior correspondent Howard Gleckman, Service, TPC’s model is the most TaxVox was named one of the 30 most comprehensive of its kind outside of influential economics blogs by The Wall Street government. Its high quality and widely Journal and, beginning in early 2010, is acknowledged credibility are largely featured on the Christian Science Monitor responsible for the Center’s success. website. Mr. Gleckman now also writes a regular fiscal policy column for The TPC staff understands that a tax model Huffington Post. designer’s work is never done. In 2009, for instance, we expanded our capacity to analyze Taking on critical policy issues ranging both health care and housing, recognizing that from health reform to economic stimulus, and hundreds of billions of dollars of subsidies for from the fiscal crisis to tax administration, both work through the tax system. We TaxVox posted more than 200 articles and developed special modules to estimate estate attracted almost 2.5 million visitors in 2009— taxes, consumption taxes, tax incentives for up 145 percent from 2008. Increasingly, saving and retirement, education tax TaxVox is cited in publications from The New incentives, and deductions for taxpayers who York Times to The Wall Street Journal and has don’t itemize. itself become a nexus of tax policy discussion. We posted more than 500 new revenue and distribution tables in 2009, our greatest output ever for one year. Our model helped both Congress and the White House analyze legislative initiatives ranging from the estate tax to assistance for low-income families.

“The nonpartisan Urban/Brookings Tax Policy Center is my favorite think tank, so it's quite distressing to see my friend Brad DeLong argue that the TPC should "pick a party, support it, and work hard to make its policies the best policies possible," rather than support "bipartisan" legislation. But much to my relief, I see that Howard Gleckman of the TPC has written a nice response: ‘I think Brad’s biggest error is his belief that we are bipartisan. We are not. We are proudly nonpartisan. This is not the same thing. [...] Our reputation for nonpartisanship is critical to what we do. It is why people across the political spectrum acknowledge our estimates are credible even as they sometimes grumble about what the results imply for their own policy views. If we lose that credibility by turning ourselves into DeLongian partisans, the data lose much of their value.’ ” “What's the Point of a Nonpartisan Think Tank?”, by Conor Clarke, The Atlantic Online, August 21

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TPC Website Our website’s traffic exceeded one million states, and the District of Columbia for 1977– unique visitors in 2009. We continued to 2007. The aggregated data can be searched by update the TPC website to make our timely type of government: state, local, state and local analysis and estimates readily available and totals, and local government detail. Users can easy to find. Our upgraded search engine view the data along different dimensions, in improves search efficiency and displays results real or nominal dollars, and on a per capita or in more useful forms. Our new contextual fraction of personal income, general revenues, search capability allows users to fine-tune or total expenditures basis. their search and narrow their choices to the TPC publications number among the most most relevant web pages. requested documents from the Urban Institute. A new Guide to TPC Tables lists our For example, in December, all five reports in most popular tables by topics and helps users the “most requested publications” section of quickly find the data they need. UI’s website were written by TPC staff and affiliates:  Do We Need a Value-Added Tax to Solve Our Long-Run Budget Problems? by Rudoph Penner;  Tax Stimulus Report Card: Conference Bill by Rosanne Altshuler, Leonard Burman, Howard Gleckman, Dan Halperin, Benjamin Harris, Elaine Maag, Kim Rueben, Eric Toder, and Roberton Williams;  Who Pays No Income Tax? by Roberton Williams;  Where, Oh Where, Has the Estate Tax Gone? by Roberton Williams; and  Considerations in Efforts to Restructure Work-Based Credits by Elaine Maag and Steve Holt. We updated and expanded Tax Topics, which offers a broad range of explanatory and Public Forums analytical publications, distributional and revenue estimates, and background In 2009, we convened some of the nation’s top information on the nation’s most pressing tax experts to participate in 16 public policy issues. forums. Topics ran the gamut from health reform to the exceptionalism of corporate We expanded our website’s Press Room income tax. Our events attracted almost 4,200 to include a multimedia library with links to guests who attended in person or registered for staff’s television and radio interviews, our live audio web casts, and many more have educational videos and podcasts, and popular downloaded the audio files. Audio recordings slide shows. or transcripts of most of these events and We also updated our State and Local many from previous years are available on our Data Query System (SLF-DQS). This tool website. contains detailed revenue, expenditure, and debt variables for the United States, the 50

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E-mail Newsletters Partners TPC’s electronic newsletter reaches almost 4,000 subscribers and figures centrally in our By coordinating with other research groups, work to distribute news to a broad audience. TPC reaches a much wider audience than it The 42 newsletters we issued in 2009 could on its own. Our research has become an announced new publications, upcoming essential ingredient in the work of many events, and other news, reaching a broad span research and advocacy organizations from of users easily and quickly, and widely across the political spectrum. The Leveraging extending access to our products. TPC Analysis section at the end of this report gives a representative sample of organizations and their publications that have used TPC Media Coverage analysis. During the 2008 presidential election, TPC became the media’s go-to source for objective tax policy analysis. In 2009, the media relied On the Horizon on us for objective nonpartisan analysis throughout President Obama’s first year in TPC has five key goals for 2010: office. 1. Continue to analyze, clarify, and show the Our clear explanations of technical tax consequences of major proposals coming from issues speak to a broad audience, open up the the Obama administration and Congress as discussion, and inform and educate the public. they develop short-term tax policy—critical In 2009, almost 700 articles, editorials, and now that the scheduled 2011 expiration of the letters to the editor cited our facts, findings, Bush tax cuts draws closer. and expert perspectives. TPC staffers 2. Expand our analysis of tax reform and participated in more than 40 radio and TV alternative revenue models, including the interviews. value-added tax. News articles, radio recordings, and 3. television clips citing TPC are available on our Inaugurate a new web-based tool: an website. online tax calculator that enables visitors to the TPC website to see how specific tax situations—including perhaps their own— Social Networking would change under various revenue proposals. We also broadened our audience base through 4. social networking. In early 2009, we created Enhance our analysis of the long-term TPC’s Facebook fan page to feature short and fiscal crisis on both the federal and the state informal discussion videos on why people levels. should care about tax policy, why the 5. Improve our website and our other web- government shouldn’t impose excessive taxes based tools to make TPC data and analysis on the AIG bonuses, what the stimulus plan more accessible. means, and how a value-added tax might work. Facebook offers a less formal way to initiate discussion with a more people outside elite tax policy circles—especially young people. Later in the year, we enlisted Twitter to reach still more of the online audience. Short Twitter feeds link to blog posts, research papers, and new distributional estimates.

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Treasures Contributions to TPC help keep our mission intact and ensure excellence and innovation in all of our work. We are funded largely through grants and contributions and could not exist without your help. TPC recognizes with immense gratitude all those who supported us this year:  Annie E. Casey Foundation  Charles Stewart Mott Foundation  Ford Foundation  Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation  H&R Block  John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation  National Academy of Public Administration Foundation  National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators  New America  Popplestone Foundation  Price Family Charitable Fund  Rockefeller Foundation  Sandler Foundation  Smith Richardson Foundation  Stoneman Family Foundation  A number of individual donors, some of whom wish to remain anonymous Both the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, which means your gifts are tax deductible. Contributions to the TPC Opportunity Fund are leveraged by a generous grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that will match contributions dollar for dollar up to $2.5 million. By contributing to the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, you too can take an active role in elevating the debate so policy is made on informed decisions based on facts and evidence rather than unsupported claims.

If you would like to support the Tax Policy Center, visit us at http://taxpolicycenter.org/aboutus/support.cfm

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Staff A key to our success is our staff, which includes some of the most respected tax and budget policy experts in the nation. We also draw on exceptional colleagues at the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution to contribute extraordinary expertise on particular program areas related to tax policy.

Director Rosanne Altshuler, Senior Fellow, Urban Institute Codirector William Gale, Arjay and Frances Miller Chair in Federal Economic Policy, Brookings Institution

Staff Joy Falzarano, Project Associate, Urban Institute Ted Gayer, Codirector of Economic Studies and Joseph A. Pechman Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution Howard Gleckman, Resident Fellow, Urban Institute Benjamin Harris, Senior Research Associate, Brookings Institution Renée Hendley, Senior Associate, Urban Institute Rachel Johnson, Research Assistant, Urban Institute Stu Kantor, Senior Public Affairs Associate, Urban Institute Surachai Khitatrakun, Research Associate I, Urban Institute Ruth Levine, Research Assistant, Brookings Institution Katherine Lim, Research Assistant, Urban Institute Elaine Maag, Research Associate I, Urban Institute Austin Nichols, Senior Research Associate, Urban Institute Rudolph Penner, Institute Fellow and Arjay and Frances Miller Chair in Public Policy, Urban Institute Leah Puttkammer, Assistant to Codirector William Gale and Development Coordinator, Brookings Institution Jeffrey Rohaly, Senior Research Methodologist, Urban Institute, and Director of Modeling for TPC Carol Rosenberg, Research Associate II, Urban Institute Joseph Rosenberg, Research Associate I, Urban Institute Kim Rueben, Senior Fellow, Urban Institute Eugene Steuerle, Richard B. Fisher Chair and Institute Fellow, Urban Institute Eric Toder, Institute Fellow, Urban Institute Roberton Williams, Senior Fellow, Urban Institute

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Affiliated scholars Lily Batchelder, Professor of Law and Public Policy, Codirector of the Furman Academic Program, and Director of the Leadership Program in Tax Law and Fiscal Policy, New York University School of Law Leonard Burman, Daniel Patrick Moynihan Professor of Public Affairs at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University and Director Emeritus of the Tax Policy Center Tracy Gordon, Assistant Professor, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland Daniel Halperin, Stanley S. Surrey Professor of Law, Harvard Law School Lawrence Lokken, Hugh Culverhouse Eminent Scholar in Taxation, University of Florida, Levin College of Law Affiliated staff Henry Aaron, Bruce and Virginia MacLaury Senior Fellow, Brookings Alan Berube, Fellow, Brookings Institution Linda Blumberg, Senior Fellow, Urban Institute Dana Campbell, Web Communications Manager, Urban Institute Lisa Clemans-Cope, Research Associate I, Urban Institute William Frenzel, Guest Scholar, Brookings Institution Bowen Garrett, Senior Research Associate, Urban Institute Ron Haskins, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution, and Senior Consultant, the Annie E. Casey Foundation Harry Holzer, Senior Fellow, Urban Institute Doug Murray, Programmer/Analyst, Urban Institute Robert Reischauer, President, Urban Institute Alice Rivlin, Adeline M. and Alfred I. Johnson Chair in Urban and Metropolitan Policy, Brookings Institution Isabel Sawhill, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution

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Advisors TPC’s credibility is paramount. The Center strives to be independent and objective because it exists largely to clarify tax policy debates that frequently get bogged down in inaccurate partisan claims. To help establish and maintain credibility, our advisory board represents a broad range of tax policy interests and expertise. The board meets (by conference call) twice a year, and our scholars informally solicit input from board members more frequently. Current advisory board members and their affiliations include the following:  Jodie Allen – Pew Research Center  Leonard E. Burman – Maxwell School of Syracuse University  Robert Greenstein – Center on Budget and Policy Priorities  Ronald A. Pearlman – Georgetown University Law Center  Jean Ross – California Budget Project  Leslie B. Samuels – Cleary, Gottlieb  Joel Slemrod – University of Michigan  Jonathan Talisman – Capitol Tax Partners, LLP

TPC also has a group of state tax policy advisors. Current members include the following:  David Brunori – George Washington University  Robert Ebel –University of the District of Columbia  William Fox – University of Tennessee  Iris Lav – Center on Budget and Policy Priorities  Therese McGuire – Northwestern University  Jean Ross – California Budget Project

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Communication Products

Congressional Testimony

Committee Date Testimony and author Senate Committee on Energy December 8 On the Merits of a Carbon Tax and Natural Resources Ted Gayer Senate Committee on Finance May 12 Financing Health Care Reform Leonard Burman Senate Budget Committee January 21 Addressing Short- and Long-Term Fiscal Challenges Rudolph G. Penner January 21 Addressing the Nation’s Contradictory Fiscal Challenges Robert D. Reischauer

Research Publications

Outlet Date Title and author Research Reports December 17 Retirement Security and the Stock Market Crash: What Are the Possible Outcomes? Barbara Butrica, Karen E. Smith, and Eric Toder December 9 Taxation of Credit Derivatives Lawrence Lokken November 23 Corporate Tax Incidence and Its Implications for Progressivity Benjamin Harris November 9 Considerations in Efforts to Restructure Work-Based Credits Steve Holt and Elaine Maag October 5 The Individual Alternative Minimum Tax: Historical Data and Projections, Updated October 2009 Katherine Lim and Jeff Rohaly August 24 Activist Fiscal Policy to Stabilize Economic Activity Alan Auerbach and William Gale August 21 The Distribution of Federal Taxes, 2009–12 Rachel Johnson and Jeff Rohaly July 29 Mitigating the Potential Inequity of Reducing Corporate Rates Dan Halperin July 21 Distributional Effects of Tax Expenditures Benjamin H. Harris, Katherine Lim, and Eric Toder June 26 Changes to the Tax Exclusion of Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Premiums: A Potential Source of Financing for Health Reform Lisa Clemens-Cope, Stephen Zuckerman, and Roberton Williams June 25 An Update on the Economic Crisis and the Fiscal Crisis: 2009 and Beyond Alan Auerbach and William Gale June 23 Do We Need a Value-Added Tax to Solve Our Long-Term Budget Problems? Rudolph Penner June 15 The Future of Long-Term Care: What Is Its Place in the Health Reform Debate? Howard Gleckman June 12 Expanding the EITC to Noncustodial Parents: Potential Impact and Design Considerations Laura Wheaton and Elaine Sorenson May 5 Federal Expenditures on Infants and Toddlers in 2007 Jennifer Ehrle Macomber, Julia Isaacs, Tracy Vericker, Adam Kent, and Paul Johnson April 8 The Stimulus Package (HR1) and Low-Income Families Margaret Simms April 7 A Blueprint for Tax Reform and Health Reform Leonard Burman April 2 Taxation of Saving for Retirement: Current Rules and Alternative Reform Approaches Eric Toder April 2 Taxation of Saving for Retirement: Current Rules and Alternative Reform Approaches

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Outlet Date Title and author Eric Toder March 25 Taxing Capital Gains in Australia: Assessment and Recommendation Leonard Burman March 16 Tax Proposals in the 2010 Budget Rosanne Altshuler, Leonard Burman, Howard Gleckman, Dan Halperin, and Roberton Williams February 19 Economic Crisis and the Fiscal Crisis: 2009 and Beyond Alan Auerbach and William Gale February 13 Tax Stimulus Report Card: Conference Bill Rosanne Altshuler, Leonard Burman, Howard Gleckman, Dan Halperin, Benjamin Harris, Elaine Maag, Kim Rueben, Eric Toder, and Roberton Williams February 3 Tax Stimulus Report Card: Comparing the House and Senate Bills Rosanne Altshuler, Howard Gleckman, and Roberton Williams January 29 Tax Stimulus Report Card: Senate Finance Committee Rosanne Altshuler, Leonard Burman, Howard Gleckman, Dan Halperin, Benjamin Harris, Elaine Maag, Kim Rueben, Eric Toder, and Roberton Williams January 26 Tax Stimulus Report Card: House Bill Rosanne Altshuler, Leonard Burman, Howard Gleckman, Dan Halperin, Elaine Maag, Eric Toder, and Roberton Williams January 8 President-Elect Obama’s Tax and Stimulus Plans Roberton Williams January Health Savings Accounts and High-Deductible Health Insurance Plans: Implications for Those with High Medical Costs, Low Incomes, and the Uninsured Linda Blumberg and Lisa Clemens-Cope Tax Analysts, Tax Facts December 23 Where, Oh Where, Has the Estate Tax Gone? Roberton Williams December 16 Comparing Subsidies for the House and Senate Health Care Bills Stephanie Rennane and C. Eugene Steuerle November 5 Real Tax Reform Is Always Hard: Some Advice for the Task Force Eugene Steuerle October 21 The Opacity of Marginal Tax Rates Rosanne Altshuler and Jacob Goldin October 14 Credits and Exemptions for Children Elaine Maag September 10 Focus on the Tax 'Avoidance' Gap Eric Toder September 9 Remove the Return William Gale August 25 Automatic Enrollment in IRAs: Costs and Benefits Benjamin Harris and Rachel M. Johnson August 25 Taxing Adjusted Gross Income Instead of Taxable Income Jacob Goldin and Eric Toder August 19 AMT Coverage by State, 2007 Carol Rosenberg July 2 Who Pays No Income Tax? Roberton Williams The Government We Deserve December 9 How Democrats and Republicans Unite Behind Unsustainable Medicare Cost Growth Eugene Steuerle November 23 Can the New Health Subsidies Be Administered? Eugene Steuerle November 10 When Health Reform Violates Standards of Equal Justice Eugene Steuerle Virginia Tax Review March 19 A Blueprint for Tax Reform and Health Reform Leonard Burman

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Opinion Editorials

Outlet Date Title and author TPC November 5 Tax Cuts for New Hires: Not Yet Ready for Prime Time Gary T. Burtless May 28 A Different Way to Pay for Health Care Reform Leonard Burman April 2 Economic Minefields Rudolph Penner CNNMoney.com September 9 Fix health care. But fix the deficits, too Alan Auerbach and William Gale Los Angeles Times July 10 Here Comes the Next Fiscal Crisis Alan Auerbach and William Gales NPR Marketplace January 22 Experiment to Get Best Stimulus Results Leonard Burman Pittsburgh Post-Gazette September 28 Sunday Forum: The Debt Bomb Rudolph Penner The Washington Post November 20 What’s Blocking the Recovery? Alan Berube, Susan Dynan, and Ted Gayer July 10 Give Up a Benefit, Gain Jobs Leonard Burman The Washington Times December 22 We Need to Ban the Evil Santas Leonard Burman November 10 Personal Savings Need a Boost Leonard Burman September 1 Pyrrhic Victory on Health Reform? Leonard Burman July 14 Catastrophic Budget Failure Leonard Burman

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TPC Conferences

Date Cohost Title December 17 The Williams Institute The Cost of Being Gay October 29 Tax Reform 2.0: Representative Paul Ryan on His Reform Roadmap October 8 Tax Reform 2.0: Easier Said than Done: The Costs and Benefits of Reducing Corporate Tax Rates October 6 The Urban Institute The Financial and Economic Consequences of an Exploding Debt October 1 Tax Reform 2.0: Senator Ron Wyden on Tax Reform and Health Reform July 16 The Brookings Institution Australia and International Pension Reform: Lessons for the United States July 8 The Brookings Institution The Budget, the Deficit, the Future June 16 Caring for Our Parents: Should Long-Term Care Be Part of Health Reform? June 2 The Urban Institute, First Is There a Fair Way to Cap the Tax Exclusion of Tuesday Forum Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance? May 19 American Tax Policy Institute Getting More from Tax Incentives and NYU School of Law April 16 Urban Institute Kids, Families, and Tax Policy: Best Friends Forever? April 9 TPC’s 7th Annual Tax Day Event: Who Pays and Who Should Pay Federal Taxes? March 11 Decoding the U.S. Corporate Tax February 20 International Tax Policy Forum American Corporate Tax Exceptionalism January 30 UCLA School of Law Tax Policy in the Obama Era

TaxVox articles, TPC’s tax and budget policy blog Date Title December Congress Amends Laws of Nature for 2010 Die Now 2010: Get Ready for a Tax-a-palooza Tax Vox’s Lump of Coal Award: The Worst Tax Ideas of 2009 Budgeting by the Bay Budget Process Reform: Stop Me Before I Spend Again Estate Tax Whiplash Should Gay Couples Pay the Same Taxes as Straights? The Estate Tax Debate: Watch the Rate, Not the Exclusion Bank Bonus Taxes Are a Bad Idea It’s Cold. It’s Icy. It’s Tax Extender Time Obama’s Stimulus II Is the CLASS Act a Budget-Buster or a Model New Program? Pardon Me, but Did Your Credit Default Swap Eat My Lunch? Happy Act: The Poster Puppy for What's Wrong with the Tax Code November Losing Sales Taxes White House Tax Reform Report Delayed Until Next Year State Budgets: Lots of Room on the Trash Heap Off to the Big House: Penalizing Non-Buyers of Health Insurance Gotcha The Tummy Tax & More: How Senate Dems Would Pay for Health Reform Should Government Policies Favor Owners Over Renters? Making Work Pay Too Much Paying for Health Reform with the Medicare Payroll Tax California Dreams vs. Reality Government Subsidies for Newspapers: Say It Ain’t So Winners and Losers in the Proposed Two-Tiered System of Health Subsidies Obama’s Non- Tax Reform Commission Tax Credits for All Will Tax Credits Sell Long-Term Care Insurance? Taxing Private Ryan October Health Care: Taxing That Fella Behind the Tree, Again Paul Ryan’s Consumption Tax

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Date Title Behavioral Economics and the Conservative Critique of VAT Who’d Get Hit by an Excise Tax on High-Cost Insurance? Is Pay-or-Play Penalty a Tax? The Homebuyer Tax Credit: When Will They Ever Learn? The Incredible Shrinking Estate Tax Will the Real Marginal Tax Rate Please Stand Up? The Doc Fix and the AMT Patch: Add a Trillion to the Debt and Call Me in the Morning Whither Revenues? TaxVox is Two Today Disappearing Revenues How Are We Going to Pay for Health Care? Will a Jobs Credit Create Jobs and Save Democrats? Can We Cut the Corporate Rate? Tax Return Preparers and Tax Professionals The Real Death Panel Tax or Fee: The Label Could Matter What Should Be Done about Bad Tax Return Preparers? September What Is a Tax? Why Are Republicans Opposing Medicare Cost Controls? Big Government and Housing Estimating Health Reform Costs: A Cautionary Tale Baucus-Care: The Gift of the Magi The Baucus Health Bill and Taxes Big Government: Much Bigger Than You Think President Obama’s Health Speech My Friend, Bernie The Health Reform Plan You’ve Never Heard Of Ending the Roth Rollover: Why Stop There? Rollover and Play Dead The Roth Rollover Boondoggle August Did the Stimulus Work? Trillion Dollar Health Reform, $3 Trillion in Tax Cuts The Budget Numbers That Matter Higher Taxes? A Holiday from Sales Tax Holidays Brad DeLong’s Modest Proposal Sleepless Nights for Tax Evaders Stuck in the Middle with Our International Tax System What about the Spending Side? Death Panels and the Estate Tax Why We Won’t Eliminate the Deficit with Corporate Tax Revenues How We Won’t Eliminate the Deficit Cash, Clunkers, and the Environment The HAPPY Act Junk Cash for Clunkers The Wall St. Journal Editorial Page: Done In by the Facts Again So Long, for Now July Caps and “Gold Plated” Health Plans Loose Handcuffs Kerry’s Premium Tax Presidential Movement Targeting Obesity California Scheming How Should We Tax Climate Change Permits? Will a Surtax Encourage More Gold-Plated Health Coverage? Paying for Health Reform by Taxing the Rich—An Update Taxing the Rich Another Stimulus? Say it Ain’t So Who Pays No Income Tax? Online Sales Tax Hardball Pruning the Income Tax Rolls Paying for Health Care Reform: Tax the Fella Behind the Tree June Will Obama Regret the House’s Cap and Trade Giveaway? Obama Off the Leader Board

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Date Title Raising the Medical Deduction Floor: Is It Worth the Trouble? Gale and Auerbach’s “Problematic” Budget Outlook Taxing Junk Food The Estate Tax and the Economy California is not Lehman Bros. (Thank goodness) Public Insurance Isn’t Coming, It’s Been Here for Years Indexing the Health Exclusion: Pay Me Now or Pay Me Later Capping the Health Exclusion: May a Thousand Followers Bloom The Temptation of Sin Taxes Sharing the Wealth–The Sequel Sharing the Wealth? Obama and the Health Tax Exclusion: Are His Lips Moving? Baseline Redux: or When Is a Tax Cut Not a Tax Cut? The Obama Tax Cuts: More Generous than Ever Obama Giveth and the AMT Taketh Away May The Garrett Nomination and Pseudo-Ethics What a Choice: Raise Taxes for the Poor or Bust the Budget The Benefits of Opacity “Caring for Our Parents”: My New Book on Long-Term Care The $250,000 Question GOP Health Reform: Surprise a Big Tax Cut Stop Picking on California Cap the Exclusion on Employer Insurance. But How? Budgeting by Special Election Tax Expenditures and Young Children State Revenues Worsen Medicare Part D and the Deficit Health Reform, Where Life Imitates Art Closing the Tax Gap Isn’t So Easy Breaking News: Obama Cuts Taxes for Rich $2 Trillion in Medical Cost Savings: A First Step on the Road to Reform From Nascar to Nuts: Why Congress Needs to Stop Micromanaging Cost Recovery The Case of the “Disappearing” Offshore Subsidiary Stimulating the Stimulus: Helping New Homebuyers A Few More Thoughts on Obama’s International Tax Initiative Will Paring Deferral Create Jobs? Don’t Cry for Me Lord Lloyd Weber Jack Kemp Farwell Tom Petska April Mañana Budgeting How Would Small Businesses Fare under Obama’s Tax Plan? Swine Flu Tax Incentives Move through Congress Where’s My Stimulus? The Dreadful Dance of Tax Legislation Ethanol Subsidies: It’s Not Easy Being Green Recycling Stupid Tax Tricks Goodbye, Gross-Up Retirement Plans—After the Fall Now That I’ve Got Your Attention Tax Refund Stimulus? What’s a Green Consumer to Do? Is Turbo Tax to Blame for the AMT? Tax Expenditures at New America State Revenue Woes Why I Hate Filing My Taxes Taxing Times for Tax Policy Number of Taxable Estates by State, 2011 Who Pays Taxes? Who Should? Estate Tax Update Is Obama Missing His Best Chance for Change? The Estate Tax: Hit or Myth March Energy Taxes and the Detroit Bailout Why Does the GOP Hate Spending but Love Tax Expenditures? Tax Reform 2.0

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Date Title Obama and Corporate Tax Rates: Talking the Talk The Stephen King Budget Tax Policy Down Under Taxing AIG Bonuses: Worse Than Paying Them It’s True, Nearly Everybody Does Get a Tax Cut in the Obama Budget The Economy Is Bad, But It Isn’t the Great Depression The Opacity of Hope Last Thoughts on the Limitation on Itemized Deductions and Giving Is Obama’s Deduction Cap a Revenue Plug? Giving Up on the Advanced Earned Income Tax Credit Would Obama’s Plan to Curb Deductions Hurt Charities? That Was Quick February The Obama Tax Plan–Winners and Losers Obama’s Plan to Cap Tax Deductions The Stimulus Act and the Limits of Tax Credits The Budget Summit: A Missed Opportunity The Complexity of Capital Gain Taxation Stimulating the Well Off–Or Not The Fiscal Outlook: “Both Bleak and Uncertain” Making Work Pay for Couples Making the Stimulus Tax Cuts Permanent Would Cost $1.7 Trillion Congress is Missing an Easy Way to Get Cash to Businesses Tax Stimulus: It Could Have Been Worse Big Spending Moderates The Senate Stimulus–It Is Getting Worse Stimulus and States Stimulus Grade Point Average Stimulating the Stimulus–Unemployment Compensation Building a Trillion Dollar Bucket Political Nominees and Taxes: Some Other Views Stimulating the Stimulus–Child Credit and EITC Are We All Tax Cheats? January Hitching a Ride on the Stimulus Train It is About Credit Markets, Not Just Stimulus Grading the Stimulus Will the Tax Cuts Help Fix the Economy? Will Obama “Bend the Curve” on Entitlement Spending? Tax Forms, Complexity, and Tim Geithner Stimulus: Something for Everyone Top Destinations in 2009 A Way to Boost Demand and Reduce Long-Term Budget Problems Obama-nomics: Written on a Word Processor Is It Always a Good Time for a Holiday More on the New Jobs Tax Credit New Jobs Tax Credit (From the Archives) Obama’s Loose Change CBO’s Rosy Scenario Hire More IRS Agents McConnell Proposes Stimulus for Tax Preparers Obama’s 300 Billion Dollar Tax Cut: Lots of Buck, Not Much Bang TaxVox’s Lump of Coal Award: The Ten Worst Ideas of 2008

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Leveraging TPC Analysis

ORGANIZATION PUBLICATIONS AARP Why Congress Should Extend the Estate Tax Health Care Plan Hits Rich with Big Tax Increases Fight in Congress Looms on Tax Break for Home Buyers Congress May Consider Tax on Executives' Health Plans Headed to a Health Care 'Town Brawl?' Read This First Social Security Crisis Looms Taxing Benefits Could Be a Two-fer Tax Revenues Post Biggest Drop Since Depression Top Marginal Tax Rates = Prosperity Bad Time to Be Rich? Only If You Don't Like Taxes Factcheck a Liberal Spin Machine The Caucus: Bipartisan Health Bill Is Possible, Leaders Say Once Considered Unthinkable, U.S. Sales Tax Gets Fresh Look Congress' Budget Shorts Obama Plans to Shift Wealth Small Businesses Brace for Tax Battle Americans’ Tax Burden Near Historic Low Peril Seen in Income-Tax Lift GOP Offers Alternative to the Obama Budget A Primer on the Stimulus Package Complexity of IRS Codes Cost Taxpayers for Preparation, Inadvertent Mistakes The Earned Income Tax Credit and Older Workers Lawmakers and Financial Experts Question Obama's Tax Cuts American Enterprise Institute The Case Against the Millionaire Surtax The Impact of the Recovery Act on Economic Growth The Deficit Endgame Moving Towards a Unified Credit for Low-Income Workers Moving Towards a Unified Credit Why Fiscal Stimulus Is Unlikely to Work Testimony Submitted to the Senate Republican Policy Committee California Budget Project Statement of Robert McIntryre before the California Commission on the 21st Century Economy Regarding Tax Fairness and Economic Growth The Changing Federal Budget Landscape: Opportunities and Challenges Campaign for America’s Future The House Health Care Bill Is Right on the Money We Should All Have 'Cadillac' Health Coverage Minimum Wage Hike: Stimulus When We Need It Progressive Breakfast: Senate Cmte Passes Public Plan Option Some Tax Facts You Won’t Hear at a Tax Protest Gilded Age Taxation Small Business Tax Hoax Progressive Tax Policies Won’t Harm Small Businesses The Right Elevates Partisanship Over Patriotism Borosage Denounces Cold-Blooded Obstruction around Economic Recovery Care2 Child’s Tax Credit Stimulus Conservative Media Peddle A Raw Deal Economy: The Case for Urgent Action McConnell’s Middle Class Cato Institute Yes, Mr. President, A Free Market Can Fix Health Care All the President’s Mandates Compulsory Health Insurance Is a Government Takeover Playing Good Cop, Bad Cop Will Obama Raise Middle-Class Taxes to Fund Health Care? The Effects of American Recession-Fighting Policies on Economic Freedom Tax Delusions Center for American Progress Think Again: “History” Isn’t a Dirty Word Bush Budget Bomb About to Blow Progressives and the National Debt More Can Be Done to Expand the Child Tax Credit Fighting Poverty in the Recovery Act How to Help 12 Million Low-Income Children

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ORGANIZATION PUBLICATIONS The Child Tax Credit and the Economic Recovery Bill Center on Budget and Policy Contrary to Claims, Allowing Estate Tax to Expire Would Make Family Farms and Small Priorities Businesses Worse Off Overall Congress Should Not Weaken the Estate Tax Beyond 2009 Parameters House Health Bill’s High-Income Surcharge Is Sound and Well Targeted Berkley Estate Tax Bill Would Add Billions to the Deficit While Benefiting Only Wealthiest 1 in 500 Estates Tax Offsets in Baucus Health Plan Are Sound but Can Be Improved House Health Bill’s High-Income Surcharge: A Reasonable Approach Raising State-Income Taxes on High-Income Tax Payers Repeal Would Increase Deficits and Likely Slow Economic Growth as a Result Maintaining Current Value of Itemized Deductions for High-Income Taxpayers Could Help Pay for Health Care Reform Obscure Tax Provision of Federal Recovery Package Could Widen State Budget Gaps How to Use Existing Tax and Benefit Systems to Offset Consumers’ Higher Energy Costs Under an Emissions Cap Income Gaps Hit Record Levels in 2006, New Data Show Rich-Poor Gap Tripled Between 1979 and 2006 The Senate and the Estate Tax: Cutting Through the Fog Federal Tax Burdens for Most Near Their Lowest Levels in Decades: Bush Tax Cuts Are Key Reason for Sharp Drop for Highest-Income Households Lincoln-Kyl Estate Tax Amendment Is Both Unnecessary and Unaffordable Policy Points: Congressional Budgets Pass Early Tests on Deficits and Economy, but Questions Remain Tax Foundation Figures Do Not Represent Typical Households’ Tax Burdens Proposal to Cap Deductions for High-Income Households Would Reduce Charitable Contributions by Only 1.9 Percent Rules of the Road: How an Insurance Exchange Can Pool Risk and Protect Enrollees High-Income Households Would Face Lower Tax Burden under Obama Budget than in Clinton Years, When Economy Performed Well Limiting Itemized Deductions for Upper-Income Taxpayers Would Have Little Effect on Small Business, Charities, Housing Tax Aid in Recovery Package Would Reach Large Numbers of Workers in Every State Statement by Robert Greenstein, Executive Director, on the President’s 2010 Budget Proposal Tax Aid in Recovery Package Would Reach Large Numbers of Workers in Every State The Estate Tax: Myths and Realities Recovery Agreement Temporarily Expands Child Tax Credit for Large Numbers of Children in Every State Statement: Robert Greenstein on the Conference Agreement on the Recovery Package Senate Changes Make Recovery Package Less Effective Proposal to Lower Bottom Tax Rates Less Effective as Stimulus than “Making Work Pay” Credit Big Misconceptions about Small Businesses and Taxes Temporarily Increasing Unemployment Benefits Is Better Targeted and More Stimulative Than Suspending Taxation of Unemployment Benefits Tax Credit Provisions in House and Senate Recovery Packages Would Lessen Growth in Poverty Capital Gains Tax Would Be Poor Stimulus Payroll Tax Holiday: A Poor Stimulus Idea Estate Tax: Myths and Realities Citizens for Tax Justice Millionaires’ Surcharge in the House-Passed Health Care Reform Bill Federal Home-Buyer Tax Credit Prompts Cheating Why Won’t the Obama Administration Accept Taxing Employer-Paid Health Premiums? Answers to Your Tax Day Questions Statement of Robert S. McIntyre before the California Commission on the 21st Century Economy Regarding Tax Fairness and Economic Growth Congressional Research Service Permanent Estate Tax Relief for Families, Farmers, and Small Businesses Act of 2009 Daily Digest Economic Policy Institute The House Health Care Bill Is Right on the Money Highest Earners Get Biggest Tax Breaks for Saving for Retirement The Job Creation Tax Credit Working the Graveyard Shift Factcheck.org Fun with Semantics Boustany’s Response

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ORGANIZATION PUBLICATIONS Obama’s Health Care News Conference Tax-and-Spend Twittering You Talking to Me? Tax Cut Ads Clip Some Details Half of the Wealthy Own Small Businesses Fact-Checking Obama’s Speech Obama Supporters Take to the Small Screen Georgetown Center on Poverty, Expanding the EITC to Help More Low-Wage Workers Inequality and Public Policy The Heritage Foundation Representative Paul Ryan Gets It Right on Entitlement Reform Tax the Wealthy Even More? That's Rich Fact Checking Obama Celebrate Tax Day Building a Better Stimulus Bill Health Care: Obama’s Pledge Is Far Too Costly National Center for Policy Improving Savings Incentives for the Poor Analysis Wishful and Dangerous Thinking Reduced Health-Care Costs National Taxpayers Union Capitalism vs. Socialism National Women’s Law Center The Expanded Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit in the Family Tax Relief Act of 2009: Would Help Make Child Care More Affordable for Millions of Families Letter to Senator New America Foundation A Penny Saved Is Mobility Earned The Save NYC Account HEALTH CARE: Families and Caregivers OMB Watch Forgotten Tax Policy: The AMT Shortsighted Tax Policy to Generate Windfall for the Rich CBPP Calls Foul on Recent Estate Tax *Studies* Sen. Lincoln and the Multi-Millionaire Farmer Business Tax Cuts as Stimulus: Somewhat Less Than Effective Oregon Center for Public Policy On Estate Tax: Senate Stages Its Own Death Scene First Stop Digging The Tax Foundation Public Finance Scholars Hope for Candor on Costs in Obama Speech Tonight How Much Does President Obama’s Budget Redistribute Income? Analysts on Left Warn Against "Soak the Rich" Taxes in Health Care Debate Summary of Latest Federal Individual Income Tax Data E.J. Dionne Defends Obama “The Re-Distributor” Testimony before Maryland Legislature on the Compliance Costs of Estate Taxes Moving Forward with Bipartisan Tax Policy Vote Kids Midterm Scorecard: How U.S. Senators Have Voted on Key Children and Family Issues in 2009

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